Any discussion of the prior art throughout this specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
It is known to link gaming machines to provide a number of additional functionalities. This includes the ability to control the awarding of a prize, as the pool of available funds is greater and the amount of funds available is known rather than having to be estimated. Another known purpose of interlinking gaming machines is to provide a secondary linked jackpot. In such a system, a central display provides players with a visual indication of a presently available jackpot prize that is increased incrementally as the players operate the interlinked gaming machines. It is known by the players that the jackpot will be awarded when it reaches a secret, randomly selected value that is less than a predetermined limit value. The limit value is often also indicated to the players by means of the display.
The use of such functionality is intended to attract players to play the machines in the hope of winning the linked jackpot. However, with increased sophistication of habitual players and their increased exposure to such systems, the systems' ability to maintain players' interest has diminished.